Today I am running late. Or rather just slow. Somehow it is already 930 am and I am just getting to my blog. Usually I start my day earlier and quicker. I think I have a new evil cold. My co-workers had an evil cold and I think they shared it with me.
But I digress. Today's topic is this looming fiscal cliff crap. I usually do not blog about politics or other stuff but this is getting ridiculous. We have a bunch of politicians who never learned to play nice together. Therefore they disagree. They do not even agree to disagree. Well sometimes they agree to disagree with the other party on principle not because of the issue.
We now have what we call a stand off again. At the expense of the average American again. I am sure it will come down to a last minute vote which the media hypes into a cliff hanger.
Who wants to bet we pay higher taxes the first few weeks in January and then get the money back somehow? And the millionaires some how get to keep all their money?
What a bunch of bozos in Washington these days. They only care about their party and its polarized positions and not about the good of the country.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
The last day
Today is the last day (FINALLY) of the election. We hope. I have heard that the lawyers are already lining up to sue if necessary for questionable election processes. They are political ambulance chasers. I have avoided politics (and pinktober) but will now have my say.
Go vote. It doesn't matter what you think, who you want to win. Go vote. If you can't get there on your own, ask a neighbor for a ride. If you live somewhere that is devastated by Sandy, go vote. The only excuses for not voting in a significant political election like this one is being bed ridden. Even then you could have gotten an absentee ballot. The astronauts in the space station voted by absentee vote and they are VERY far from home.
Tomorrow, I hope, we will have political results instead of court cases. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain about politics anywhere near me.
Go vote. It doesn't matter what you think, who you want to win. Go vote. If you can't get there on your own, ask a neighbor for a ride. If you live somewhere that is devastated by Sandy, go vote. The only excuses for not voting in a significant political election like this one is being bed ridden. Even then you could have gotten an absentee ballot. The astronauts in the space station voted by absentee vote and they are VERY far from home.
Tomorrow, I hope, we will have political results instead of court cases. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain about politics anywhere near me.
Politics and healthcare
I always think politics and healthcare should be separate issues. I am also not blogging about political issues - I am in my quadrennial political avoidance mode. But I find this issue interesting. Would you change your presidential vote based on the issue of healthcare? According to CNN it is making people think in several swing states (they just use the term swing to confuse us all).
The big issue is that people who have always voted with the Republican party and enjoying the benefits of the healthcare reform act. They realize that if Romney wins they may lose these benefits.
I think this shows how divisive politics have become and how messed up our healthcare system is. If Americans' politics are swayed by a single issue, our health care system must be in very bad shape.l
The big issue is that people who have always voted with the Republican party and enjoying the benefits of the healthcare reform act. They realize that if Romney wins they may lose these benefits.
I think this shows how divisive politics have become and how messed up our healthcare system is. If Americans' politics are swayed by a single issue, our health care system must be in very bad shape.l
Tis the season
So during Pinktober, I pledge:
- I will not purchase anything pink
- I will not donate to anything pink
- I will not raise any awareness for breast cancer
A product may sell for $20 and a portion of the manufacturer's profits go to breast cancer research. So the whole sale price is $10. The manufacturing costs are $7 which leaves $3 in profit and if 10% is donated, that is $0.30. You are better off sending the $20 directly to an established non profit.
And never mind pink lights on building, pink sports teams, pink garbage cans, pink fried chicken buckets, pink hats, and more.
As far as Electionovember, I pledge:
- I will vote on election day
- I will not dominate conversations with political rants
- I will not allow myself to be subject to anyone else's political rants
- I will make up my own mind on my votes
I think all politicians should be required to talk about their stance on issues and not be allowed to bash the other one. I mean they should be free to say things like 'my opponent disagrees with my position but I believe it is correct because...' but they should not be allowed to say things like 'my opponent is a liar and will contribute to the end of the world because they are wrong about everything'.
What if politicians had to take lie detector tests? Would that help?
In the meantime, feel free to join me in an unpinked and politic-free season.
Somewhere out there...
Over the rainbow, far far away. There are all sorts of politics, elections, unrest in the Middle East and more. I don't care. I learned at the last presidential election that I had to go into avoidance mode to keep politics out of my life.
I do understand politics are important and I vote. But frankly I am not interested in negative ads where the candidates slam each other but never say what they are going to do. Or the candidates who fall from grace because they were set up by an opponent as a drug dealer. Or the former candidate in MA who said he has an addiction for $500/hour hookers but not for sex - only dinner and a movie. (Thats a lie if I've ever heard one.)
At this point in my life, I have plenty going on and will never run for politics. Maybe I'm selfish but I'm happy in my own little world with with work, my cat, my husband, our little house with its garden. I don't need to deal with the rest of that crap. I don't have enough time or energy to do much more these days. I do have a social life.
But I also visit doctors regularly. One appointment this week, another in ten days. Then a bunch in October and a couple in November. Then presto! we are done with the big elections for another four years. And I won't have to worry that I might be missing anything on the elections, politics, and all that...
Law, religion, and medical care
This story saddened me. A 16 year old girl who was 13 weeks pregnant died from complications from leukemia in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic constitution forbids abortion which I believe is within their rights to decide as a country. This is probably due to the main religion of the country - Catholicism. Her doctors were concerned that chemotherapy would induce an abortion. It took 20 days to reach the decision that she could receive chemotherapy. At that point she miscarried, had a cardiac arrest and could not be revived.
While I am certainly not going to get into a discussion on the Catholic church's opinion of abortion or the Dominican Republic's Constitution, nor discuss the subject of teen pregnancy, I do feel that the purpose of the Hippocratic Oath was to do no harm. To me this means taking care of the patient first. Where was the sense of urgency in making this decision to let her receive chemotherapy? Why wasn't the concern for the life of the mother taken into consideration?
It is just very sad that politics and religion interfere needlessly with medical care in this day and age.
While I am certainly not going to get into a discussion on the Catholic church's opinion of abortion or the Dominican Republic's Constitution, nor discuss the subject of teen pregnancy, I do feel that the purpose of the Hippocratic Oath was to do no harm. To me this means taking care of the patient first. Where was the sense of urgency in making this decision to let her receive chemotherapy? Why wasn't the concern for the life of the mother taken into consideration?
It is just very sad that politics and religion interfere needlessly with medical care in this day and age.
Pre-existing condition exclusions
Here is someone who has never had a preexisting condition:
"And I believe my state of California has a structure in place to deal with pre-existing conditions. It’s a pooling process, which I think is one worthy of consideration, because while I don’t that think someone who is diagnosed with a massive tumor should the next day be able to have millions and millions and millions of dollars in health care provided, I do believe that there can be a structure to deal with the issue of pre-existing conditions."
He is State Representative Dreier (R) of California. I'm glad I don't live there. Apparently if you have a tumor, you become a non-person because you aren't worth treating. Would that be the fate of these two people? First a little 2 year old boy had a 33 lb tumor remove and then a 65 year old woman has a 51 lb tumor removed.
I hope this leads to his political down fall. First of all to make such a blanket statement is ridiculous. Not all tumors are cancerous that will require expensive and long term treatment. Second each person's life is valued equally. All have their rights to choose their medical treatment. Third I can't think of a third because I am too flabbergasted by the whole thing.
"And I believe my state of California has a structure in place to deal with pre-existing conditions. It’s a pooling process, which I think is one worthy of consideration, because while I don’t that think someone who is diagnosed with a massive tumor should the next day be able to have millions and millions and millions of dollars in health care provided, I do believe that there can be a structure to deal with the issue of pre-existing conditions."
He is State Representative Dreier (R) of California. I'm glad I don't live there. Apparently if you have a tumor, you become a non-person because you aren't worth treating. Would that be the fate of these two people? First a little 2 year old boy had a 33 lb tumor remove and then a 65 year old woman has a 51 lb tumor removed.
I hope this leads to his political down fall. First of all to make such a blanket statement is ridiculous. Not all tumors are cancerous that will require expensive and long term treatment. Second each person's life is valued equally. All have their rights to choose their medical treatment. Third I can't think of a third because I am too flabbergasted by the whole thing.
And the world didn't come to the end
So when the Supreme Court upheld the health care reform law (whether its a tax or not is still up for debate) and the world did not come to an end. I know there has been a lot of hate mongering on the topic which is supposedly somehow related to the president's citizenship to some people.
But now more people will be able to get health insurance. Recently there was of those stupid slide show news stories (because evidently the media thinks we need our news in slide shows and can't read articles) that listed the percent of residents of each state without health insurance. Massachusetts, with its state law, has the lowest rate of 5%. Texas has the highest rate of 25% which I found to be amazing. According to our friend Google, there are 26,403,743 residents of Texas. That means in Texas alone there are 6,600,936 people without insurance. I find that amazing.
I realize some people go with out insurance by choice. While I do not agree with it, I respect their decision. But I am sure that the vast majority of those 6.6 million would like to have insurance and either could not afford it or the insurance companies rejected them for pre-existing conditions or whatever.
Anyway since the world didn't come to an end, I am happy to wait and see what the changes really mean. I also hopes it has a chain reaction effect on the rest of the health care industry. And how the 'poor' insurance companies will have to adapt.
But now more people will be able to get health insurance. Recently there was of those stupid slide show news stories (because evidently the media thinks we need our news in slide shows and can't read articles) that listed the percent of residents of each state without health insurance. Massachusetts, with its state law, has the lowest rate of 5%. Texas has the highest rate of 25% which I found to be amazing. According to our friend Google, there are 26,403,743 residents of Texas. That means in Texas alone there are 6,600,936 people without insurance. I find that amazing.
I realize some people go with out insurance by choice. While I do not agree with it, I respect their decision. But I am sure that the vast majority of those 6.6 million would like to have insurance and either could not afford it or the insurance companies rejected them for pre-existing conditions or whatever.
Anyway since the world didn't come to an end, I am happy to wait and see what the changes really mean. I also hopes it has a chain reaction effect on the rest of the health care industry. And how the 'poor' insurance companies will have to adapt.
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